Employers Use Eligibility Audits to Control Health
Care Costs

A recent survey conducted by the International
Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) found that
26% of U.S. employers conduct eligibility audits for
their health care plans.

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“Employers conduct an eligibility audit to ensure
that every person covered by their health plan is an
approved dependent,” said Julie Stich, Senior
Information/Research Specialist with the IFEBP, in a press
release. “When the audit is conducted, employers often
discover many people-former spouses, adult children,
non-immediate family members-who are covered under the
health plan even though they do not qualify as a
dependent.”

Stich points out that removing ineligible
dependents from a plan can save employers hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and says she expects the number of
employers that conduct eligibility audits to grow.

The IFEBP found another health care benefits
cost-saving option considered by employers is voluntary
benefits, which are group benefits offered at the
workplace but paid for by employees. Voluntary benefits
may include coverage supplemental to the employer's
current offerings or, for those employers who are unable
to provide health care coverage, they may include
standard health insurance. The survey found that 39% of
employers have voluntary health insurance, 40% offer
voluntary dental insurance, and 37% have voluntary vision
insurance.

Employers are also implementing a number of
cost-management techniques for prescription drugs,
according to the IFEBP press release.

The most popular technique among the respondents
was using a mail-order drug service (85%), followed by
promoting generic drugs (71%), the use of drug
formularies (68%), three or more tiers for cost sharing
(59%), and the use of a pharmacy benefit manager
(50%).

Employee Benefits Survey: U.S. and Canada, 2009
(Item #6542) is published by the International Foundation
of Employee Benefit Plans, and costs $132 (I.F. Members
$99). To order visit
www.ifebp.org/books.asp?6542
, e-mail
bookstore@ifebp.org
or call (888) 334-3327, option 4.